


Failure of a Father

by MachineryField



Category: Persona | Revelations Persona
Genre: Angst, Character Study, Gen, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Joker from P5 is Takashi Kido
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-13
Updated: 2019-11-13
Packaged: 2021-01-29 17:42:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21414109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MachineryField/pseuds/MachineryField
Summary: He’d tried to be strong for Takashi, but he couldn’t even do that. As the seconds ticked by, Reiji was failing more and more as a father.
Relationships: Kido Reiji & Kido Takashi, Kido Reiji & Persona 5 Protagonist
Kudos: 14





	Failure of a Father

**Author's Note:**

> HI IM SAD

Nothing quite hurt like having no way to help your child, Reiji learned this when Takashi was about to become a second year.

He felt like he was drowning in the news. A trial he couldn’t attend because Kei knew him well enough to keep him away, a conviction that put Takashi out of reach for a year, Yukino assuring Reiji the person she found would take good care of him…

But it wasn’t right. If anyone should take care of his son, it should be his parents… but could he even call himself a parent right now? He’d failed his son, failed to protect him like a parent should…

He felt like he couldn’t breathe as he saw Takashi off at the train station. Apologies wanted to spill out of his mouth as his son boarded the train, but not one word escaped. He couldn’t even keep the tears in until it pulled out of the station…

He’d tried to be strong for Takashi, but he couldn’t even do that. As the seconds ticked by, Reiji was failing more and more as a father.

Reiji hadn’t even had a final goodbye for his son. Just a hug and choked tears… Takashi had tears in his eyes as the train pulled away, too. He couldn’t even comfort him…

It was like his father looming over his mother, golf club in hand, but this time he couldn’t get in the way. He couldn’t protect one of the most important people in his life from the pain and hurt to come.

He was just as helpless as he was before he made that choice. Just as scared.

It ate at him, calls from friends went ignored. He couldn’t bring himself to hear their voices. Couldn’t bring himself to even imagine the ways they’d try and soften this for him. It hurt, and he would let that hurt fester for a while.

Reiji found himself not going home when it got dark. He continued to wander, even found himself on a train towards Mikage-cho. He had no business there and would have to stay in a hotel for the night, but…

There was something he had to do there.

It was late when he made it to the cemetery. It was closed, but that didn’t stop him, he just hopped the fence. God, he hadn’t done something like this since high school… But he couldn’t turn back now.

He found the grave, empty under all the soil, he knew, but it was the closest he could get to speaking with his half-brother. He knelt in front of the gravestone, swallowing hard. So many words had gone through his head before he ended up here, but now? Now he was at a bit of a loss…

“Hey… How did it feel when you died…? When you knew you couldn’t be there for that part of Maki anymore…?” Of course, there was no answer but the wind. “Was it hard? Did you feel like… Like you were  _ him _ ?”

He shook his head, letting out a shaky breath. Even if Takahisa was alive, he probably wouldn’t have an answer. He’d been cold logic and facts, at least… That’s how Reiji remembered their few interactions painting him.

Takahisa, cold and logical and him, fiery and emotional. As different as two people could get.

He leaned his forehead against the stone and let himself cry, sobs wracking his body as he gripped the sides. He didn’t know what to do, he felt so lost… There was no one to turn to, no one to speak with.

After a few moments, he stood again, wiping the tears away. “...Sorry to bother you, I’ll figure out how to manage.”


End file.
